LUCY LETBY

That most meaningless phrase uttered so often by politicians and people of that ilk –  “lessons will be learned” – has been bandied into total insignificance following the trial and conviction of baby murdering nurse Lucy Letby

Yet, in this case, there is a lesson to be learned and, from all things,  a movie  in the  famous UK comedy series  CARRY ON.

CARRY ON MATRON released in 1972  was fiction but centred on the fact that the maternity hospital it featured was, like other hospitals in the NHS, ruled with an iron rod by a matron – a highly qualified senior nurse at the top of her profession

To come up to date, one of a team of 6 doctors who suspected nurse Letby was killing babies in her care was “warned off” by a hospital manager and put in fear of being  reported for victimisation to the General Medical Council.

It is disgusting that a manager, with no medical qualifications whatsoever, should be in a position of  such authority to be able to dictate to a highly trained doctor what he should do and not do, and to be in a position from which he can bully a medical practitioner into silence.

No doubt a management team is needed in a hospital but it should not have any authority over medical staff. It should act in an advisory capacity only and medical staff should have authority over it. A team of medical professionals led, yes, by a matron.

The average salary of a Matron in the NHS is £50,000. If this were doubled to compensate for additional responsibilities it would still be a great deal less than the obscene £200,000 or more paid to some hospital managers.  Carry On matron!

Endit

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AND ANOTHER THING

This blog occasionally takes a swipe at the TODAY programme on BBC Radio One but only when it does not achieve the highest standards of journalism expected of it. For example, on Thursday 24/08/23

At shortly before 06.30 during the usual finance and economics spot, a correspondent used the phrase “you know” 9 times in a roughly 30 second response to a question from the presenter, and continued to interject the phrase with infuriating  regularity into every answer she gave throughout the piece.

Actually, to be precise, she said “yerknow” but you know what I mean!

However, the heaven’s be praised, she did not once say “any time soon” which has become common parlance with so many BBC hacks.

Endit